The world is watching


I honestly don’t think there’s a person in the world today who hasn’t heard of the horrific abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria by the terrorist group Boko Haram – which means “education is forbidden.” These girls have been separated from their families for weeks and – no doubt – are terrified. My thoughts – as a father – are with the girls and their parents.

Frankly, the fact that incidents like this are happening at all in the 21st century should be deeply troubling to every one of us.  As parents – as human beings – we must insist women and girls be treated with dignity and allowed to live and learn in safety from extremism. Nick Kristof had it right when he wrote in the New York Times: ‘The greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.’

While the scale of this incident is staggering, the Boko Haram threat isn’t new. They’ve led an escalating campaign of atrocities against their own people for years. They are extremists with a gangster-mentality who represent no interest but their own – targeting young women, young men, churches, schools. They do not represent Islam and their actions cannot go unanswered.

The mothers, activists, and concerned citizens who have taken their outrage to the streets and to social media deserve credit for focusing the world’s attention on this crisis and insisting that the Nigerian government bring them home. I’m glad a US team is now on the ground, but despite offers of assistance from the US and other international partners, the Nigerian government’s response to this crisis has been tragically and unacceptably slow. President Jonathan must demonstrate the leadership his nation is demanding.

The rise of groups like Boko Haram doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Nigeria has a long history of division along ethnic and religious lines – tensions that terrorists capitalize on. And as much as we’re appalled by the actions of Boko Haram  in using societal fissures to create chaos and distrust, we should also be troubled by a record of excessive force and human rights abuses by Nigeria’s military in dealing with the Boko Haram threat.

It’s time we elevate the issue of sexual violence and violence against women in general to the international arena. And the time is now for Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women’s Act.  The world is watching.  

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